If you’re running Windows 7 and Firefox 4, you should pick up the latest AMD Catalyst drivers. Version 11.4, released on the 27th, resolves an issue with the GPU showing high GPU usage after running Firefox 4’s hardware acceleration, among other things. The important thing to note is that if you’re using Firefox 4 and have hardware acceleration turned on, you may have had issues with other graphics-intensive tasks.

The release notes only say “The GPU no longer shows high GPU usage after running Firefox 4 with hardware acceleration enabled,” and the changes only apply to Windows 7 users. It’s possible that using hardware acceleration in Firefox 4 caused AMD graphics cards to think they were being heavily utilized, even if they weren’t – which would in turn mean there are fewer resources to go around for other things, like gaming, for example.

The updated drivers also include a number of fixes for specific games like Bioshock and Bulletstorm, and fixes bugs in AMD’s Catalyst Control Center. The drivers also improve performance in eight different games, like Batman: Arkham Asylum, Just Cause 2, and Call of Duty: Black Ops. There are even a few game fixes specific to Windows XP users.

The oddest thing about the announcement is that it only applies to Windows 7 users, and not to Windows Vista users as well – Firefox 4 runs on both operating systems, and the same drivers apply to both Windows Vista and Windows 7, so it’s not clear why the issue applies to Windows 7 only. Still, if you do have an AMD graphics card, now is a good time to update your video drivers, if you haven’t been keeping them up to date yourself. A full list of compatible products and operating systems is available at AMD’s support site.

Reader Comments

Starsbravo

‘If you’re running Windows 7 and Firefox 4, you should pick up the latest AMD Catalyst drivers.’
you forgot ‘and use an AMD Graphics Card’ ^^ just fooling around thx for the tip, but i have an nvidia :(

Starsbravo

‘If you’re running Windows 7 and Firefox 4, you should pick up the latest AMD Catalyst drivers.’
you forgot ‘and use an AMD Graphics Card’ ^^ just fooling around thx for the tip, but i have an nvidia :(